That was a decision made way back. In this way, they were massed produced and ready to go. They had heavy screw hooks to set them and they were all pre-wired. There was a knife switch hooked to the door so if you didn't disconnect the other switch, it would save the the "talk" battery. They all had another knife switch, above the phone so you could choose the "Dispatchers" line or the "Farmers" line. The phone itself was a wood wall phone with a crank that had a dispatcher type ear peice that fit over your head and a "Push to talk button in the center of the phone. The were all wood to start but then a few showed up that were black metal. There was also a tiny ledge to write on, for copying TOs or Track Car Line ups. Oh, and a drawer that held TO forms, etc.

These booths were pretty well bomb proof and sucure. Well, except for black widows and rattle snakes and such. They were still in use on the Coast in the 70s. When I got to Dunsmuir in the 80s I had to go to the phone at Sims. The phone was in the big CTC shacks. I was surprised to find a dial phone that you could dial the dispatcher or anywhere on the system.



Nudge